Showtime! An XPage Dynamic Table Managed Bean

AusLUG2011

Meet.Share.Learn

29th & 30th August, Sydney, Australia

Russell Maher | President | RGM Consultingrgmconsulting.comXPageTips.com

Showtime! An XPage Dynamic Table Managed Bean

Meet.Share.Learn 29th & 30th August, Sydney, Australia

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Who is Russell Maher?

• Independent consultant located outside of Chicago• Developing, administering, teaching, speaking on

Notes/Domino since 1993• Co-presenter of The VIEW Advanced XPages for

Domino Developers• XPageTips.com• Managing partner of QDiligence


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Agenda

• Application Requirements• Architectural Overview• The Code• Deployment• Using the Custom Control


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Agenda



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What is this about?

Domino developers have always needed ability to provide dynamic tables.

This presentation describes a dynamic table solution using XPages and managed beans that is easy to administer and deploy.


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Application Requirements

• Users…– Must be able to add any

number of rows to a table within the same document

– Must be able to save document as a Draft or Final

– If document is not saved, table must be restored next time document is opened

• Administrators…– Must be able to configure

table without programming

• Column Headings• Number of columns• Field types• Field choices• Field validation


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Demo!


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Agenda



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Architectural Overview

• Table data is stored on a single document– Repeated fields

Answer1_1,Answer1_2,Answer1_3Answer2_1,Answer2_2,Answer2_3Answer3_1,Answer3_2,Answer3_3

– Why?• Less documents• Local data (right on the document)• Easier to code manage


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Required Configuration Information

• You need a keyed table config document that describes:– # of Columns– Header text for each table column– Field details for each column

• Answer is: Radio, Text, Checkbox, Combobox• Field choices (Yes/No, True/False, etc.)• Is field required?


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Table Configuration Document


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Required Dynamic Table Information

• For each dynamic table you must…1. Repeat the # of columns• Found in the table configuration document

2. Repeat the number of rows• Found in the current user document• The document used for data entry

3. Repeat the number of questions in a row• Found in the table configuration document


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Dynamic Table Visualization


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Adding A Row

• Initially appears simple:– Increment the rowCount for the table by 1– Add a new row to the table

• What happens if document is…– Not saved?

• You don’t keep the new rows

– Saved as Draft?• You keep the new rows but don’t validate

– Saved as Final?• You validate and keep the rows


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Deleting a Row

• Again appears simple:– Decrement rowCount by 1– Remove the row from the table

• What happens if document is…– Not saved?

• You can’t lose them – user expects them next time

– Saved as Draft or as Final?• You remove the rows from the table permanently


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Gaps. You don’t want ‘em.

• You always want:Answer1_1,Answer1_2,Answer1_3Answer2_1,Answer2_2,Answer2_3Answer3_1,Answer3_2,Answer3_3

• You never want “gaps”:Answer5_1,Answer5_2,Answer5_3Answer13_1,Answer13_2,Answer13_3Answer14_1,Answer14_2,Answer14_3


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Every Save Requires Normalization

• The user document table fields must…– Always accurately reflect the number of rows– Never include missing rows

• On document open you must list rowCount number of rows– Gaps will cause problems


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Table Field Normalization

• When a dynamic table is saved…– You clean the table fields on the document by…

• Walking the existing table and removing deleted rows– They are only “hidden” when a user deletes them in case they

don’t save

• Rebuilding the table using remaining rows

• Rearranging the document fields to match new table data– You don’t want any “ghost” table fields lingering about on your

document


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Field Normalization Visualized


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Agenda



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Dynamic Binding Act 1

• Expression Language (EL) binds XPage controls to data

#{dataSource.fieldname}

• EL bindings can be dynamic#{dataSource.SOMEVARIABLE}


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Dynamic Binding Act 2

• Custom Controls can have defined properties– Property values can be set at runtime– Property values are provided by the containing

XPage/control– Accessed from within the custom control as:

• compositeData.propertyname


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Dynamic Binding Finale

• Dynamic EL binding + Custom Control =#{dataSource[compositeData.propertyname]}

• This allows you to have any field on a custom control bind to any field on the document that you wish


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Dynamic Binding Illustration


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Dynamic Binding Illustration 2


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Table_Configuration.xsp

• Contains…– Lookup Key Field– Number of Columns Field– Repeat control…

• Repeats “Number of Columns” times• Repeats a configTableColumnControl for each column


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Table Configuration


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configTableColumnControl

• Contains…– configColumnLabelControl

• Contains column header label for a column

– configFieldTypeControl• Defines type of field: Radio, Checkbox, etc.

– configFieldChoicesControl• List choices for appropriate fields

– configFieldRequiredControl• Is this field required?


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configTableColumnControl


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UserDocument.xsp

• Contains…– A tableBeanDynamicTableControl custom control

• Gets single property:

the key of the configuration document


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tableBeanDynamicTableControl

• Contains…– An XPage table control

• Repeat control for the column headers• Repeat for the table rows which contains…

– Repeat for each row of questions

– Buttons• Add New Row• Save as Draft• Save as Final


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tableBeanDynamicTableControl

DEMO


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EL = Bean Connection

• Expression Language actually binds controls to a JavaBean• #{dataSource.fieldname}

really means

“Connect to the dataSource bean and access its fieldname property.”


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Managed Beans

• Managed beans …– Are Java classes not represented by a UI control

• vs. the “backing beans” used by the XPage controls

– Are a different way to code your XPage application business logic

– Are like agents or script libraries that are running all the time• You just call their functionality whenever you need them to

do something


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Managed Bean Development Process

1. Write a Java class

2. Deploy the managed bean into your NSF

3. Use EL to bind your XPage controls the your managed bean


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Write a Managed Bean Class


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TableBean

• One managed bean that provides all dynamic table functionality

• Represents a single table• Called from the dynamicTableControl• Creates a session scoped representation of the

entire table for current document


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TableBean Construction Methods

• buildBean() – Creates an entire table object

• getTableColumnHeadings()– Returns a Vector of column headings

• getTableRows()– Returns a Vector of table rows


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TableBean Management Methods

• addTableRow() • removeTableRow()• cleanTableFields()• saveAsDraft()• saveAsFinal()


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Agenda



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Managed Bean Deployment

• Your Java source files need to be accessible to your NSF– Use the Package Explorer– Create a new source folder

• Right-click the project• Use Build Path…New Source Folder…

– Place your packaged Java source in the new source folder


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Making a Source Folder


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Managed Bean Deployment

• Tell the NSF the managed bean exists– Package Explorer– Edit faces-config.xml– Give the bean a name

• This is the name you use in your code to call the bean

– Identify the Java source of the bean– Identify the scope of the managed bean

• application, session, view, request, none


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Editing faces-config.xml


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“Then A Miracle Happens”

• Once you have configured your managed bean, the first call to any of its methods instantiates the bean!


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Code & Demo Time!


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Agenda



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Using the Dynamic Table Control

• If you want it, you can have it.

• http://www.rgmconsulting.com/tablebean

• Need to clean the Java code and add more comments then I will send people a link and post publicly.


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Questions??

• Thank you!• Visit XPagetips.com• Contact Me If You Have Questions

Russell [email protected]

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Showtime! An XPage Dynamic Table Managed Bean

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